Belt hook holder



June 27, 1939. A. BRAY 2,164,049

BELT HOOK HOLDER Filed Dec. 13, 1957 Ill IIIHIHI Patented June 27, 1939PATENT OFFICE BELT HOOK HOLDER Albright Bray, River Forest, 111.,assignor to Armstrong Bray & 00., Chicago, 11]., a corporation ofIllinois Application December 13, 1937, Serial No. 179,456

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in belt hook holders.

Metal or wire belt hooks, for lacing belts, are commonly mounted onelongated holders of cardboard or other suitable material from whichsections with the desired number of hooks may be severed as required.The hooks are closely spaced on the holder, and are intended to be heldthereon in parallel upright position for ready insertion into a lacingmachine. Heretofore, holders of this general type have been subject tovarious objections and difiiculties which are avoided by the presentinvention.

One of the primary objects of the invention is to providea new andimproved belt hook holder in which the hooks are held more firmly andsecurely in position so that severing of a section from the holder withthe desired number of hooks is facilitated, and the line-up of the hooksat the severed ends is not disturbed. This avoids the necessity,commonly arising, for straightening and adjusting the hooks beforeinsertion into the machine.

The invention resides in an elongated supporting member of paper orother suitable material which is formed with a plurality. of transverseslots uniformly spaced in accordance with the spacing of the hooks onthe holder, and adapted respectively to receive the intermediate bentportions of the hooks so that thelatter act collectively through themember to maintain each hook upright and in centered position, and tohold the hooks evenly spaced for accurate registration with the groovesto receive them in the lacing machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel supporting memberof the foregoing character which need not be removed'before placing theholder with the hooks into the lacing machine, and which may be formedto permit convenient packing of the holder and hook assemblies forshipment.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevationalview of a holder and hook assembly embodying the features of myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the assembly.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the supporting member formaintaining the alignment and verticality of the hooks on the holder,the member being shown folded or bent about its longitudinal centerline.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the supporting member in fiatcondition.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of a holder and hook assembly.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications andalternative constructions, I have shown in the drawing and will hereindescribe in detail the preferred embodiment, but it'is to be understoodthat I do not thereby intend to limit the invention to the specific formdisclosed, but intend to cover all modifications and alternativeconstructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention asexpressed in the appended claims.

Referring more particularly to the exemplary embodiment of theinvention, the holder is in the form of an elongated strip 1 which maybe made of any suitable material such, for example, as cardboard orfibre board. The strip is channelshaped in cross section, and has sidewalls 2 and 3 bent upwardly and somewhat toward each other so that whenthe holder and the hooks are assembled a generally triangular structureis defined. Mounted on the holder strip I are a plurality of belt hooks4 in upright position and closely spaced parallel relation. The hooks 4are bent into a generally trianguar shape, and have inwardly projectingopen or spaced prongs 5 on their ends. In assembling the hooks 4 withthe strip I, the prongs 5 are caused to perforate the side walls 2 and3, thereby forming in each side two parallel rows of longitudinallyaligned holes 6.

Preferably, the holes 6 of the two rows are arranged in staggeredrelation.

Also formed in one of the side walls, namely the wall 2, are a pluralityof vertical slots '1 which have a restricted opening to the upperlongitudinal edge thereof, and which define intermediate flexiblelocking projections 8. The slots 7 conform in number to and are invertical alignment respectively with the holes 6. In the assembly, theinclined arms of the hooks 4 lie substantially against the outer sidesof the walls 2 and 3, and the prongs 5 project through the holes 6. Theprojections 8 are flexed outwardly between the arms of the hooks 4 atone side of the latter so that these arms in effect extend through theslots 1.

The projections 8 thus tend to hold the hooks 4 normally in uprightposition. In practice, how ever, the projections 8 are not of sufficientstrength to insure retaining the hooks 4 in the desired position forready and convenient insertion into a belt lacing machine (not shown).On the contrary, the alignment of the hooks 4, particularly at andadjacent the ends of the holder or sections severed therefrom, isfrequently disturbed. This results in considerable inconvenience andloss of time, both of the machine and the operator.

One of the primary features of the present invention resides inproviding for the avoidance of the foregoing difficulty. In the specificform illustrated, this is accomplished by means of a separate supportingmember 9 which is formed to interfit with the upper or intermediate bentportions of the hooks 3, and thereby to maintain the latter in parallelrelation. The member 9 may be a strip of any suitable material such, forexample, as comparatively stiff or heavy paper or light cardboard, andis formed with a plurality of uniformly spaced transverse slots H)adapted snugly to receive the upper or intermediate bent portions of thehooks 4. It will be understood that the slots iii are so spaced and ofsuch width that they will properly interfit with the hooks 4 when thelatter are in parallel upr ight position.

The slots ill preferably are of such length that the outer bent portionsof the hooks 4' will project therethrough sufliciently to permit thelongitudinal marginal portions of the member 9 to rest on or engage theupper longitudinal edges of the sides 2 and 3 .of the holder. As aresult, the projecting portions of the hooks are exposed to asubstantial extent so thatthe hooks on any one holder may be interfittedwith those on another holder without appreciable interference by themember 9 to permit compact packing of the holders for shipment andstorage purposes. To facilitate compact packing still further, asillustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 5, the strip 9 may be bent orpartially folded inwardly along its longitudinal center line so as toconform generally to the triangular shape of the hooks 4.

The slots i9 are herein shown of such length 'that the ends engage thediverging arms of the hooks 4 when the member 9 is positioned to engagethe side walls 2 and 3 ofthe holder i, and hence are adapted to maintainthe hooks centered or in longitudinal alignment.

the hooks, the member 9 would tend to constrain the hooks againstlateral shifting on the holder by reason of the frictional engagementbetween the hooks and the sides of the slots Hi.

It will be evident that the strip member 9 serves to hold all of thehooks 4 in parallel relation and acts collectively with all of the hooksand the projections 8. to maintain each hook securely in vertical orupright position. Consequently, all of the hooks i are held in centered,parallel and upright position, and the holder and hook assembly may beinserted without difficulty or inconveniece into the lacing machine. Thehooks cannot lay over sidewise and will not become lost or damaged. Theholder and hook assembly may be severed at any longitudinal pointwithout disturbing the proper mounting of the hooks. The strip 9, beingseverable and Even though the. ends of the slots were not to engage thearms of spaced inwardly from the outer bent portions of the hooks 4,need not be removed to permit insertion of the holder and hook assemblyinto the lacing machine.

I claim as my invention:

1. A belt lacing hook holder and hook assembly comprising, incombination, an elongated strip of flexible material havinglongitudinally folded side walls to define a holder of generallytriangular cross section, a plurality of generally triangular open belthooks arranged in spaced relation along said holder, said hooks eachhaving angularly disposed arms with end prongs projecting inwardlythrough said walls and having a bent portion connecting said arms andprojecting from said walls, a plurality of projections on the freelongitudinal edge of one of said walls and extending outwardlyrespectively between the adjacent arms of successive hooks to disposesaid hooks in perpendicular relation to said holder, and an elongatedstrip of flexible material having a plurality of longitudinally spacedtransverse slots respectively receiving said bent portions of said hooksto maintain said hooks in parallel relation, said last mentioned stripbeing bent inwardly along its longitudinal center line, and at itssidemargins engaging the free longitudinal edgesv of said walls.

2. A belt lacing hook holder and hook assem bly comprising, incombination, an elongated strip of flexible material havinglongitudinally folded side walls, a plurality of closely spaced parallelupright hooks having prongs projecting inwardly through said side wallsand having outwardly projecting intermediate bent portions, and anelongated member of flexible material formed with a plurality oftransverse slots respectively receiving said bent portions of said hooksand being bent inwardly along its longitudinal center line to conformgenerally to the triangular shape of the hooks of; an inverted nestedholder and assembly having the bent portions of its hooks insertedbetween the bent portions of said upright hooks, and said slots being ofsuch length thatthe ends thereof engage the opposite arms of therespective upright hooks received therein to hold such upright hookspositively in longitudinally centered alignment and to hold the membersubstantially against further inward bending under, the pressure of thenested assembly.

3. A positioning member for belt hooks having intermediate bent portionsand mounted on a cardingholder, said memberconsisting of an elongatedstrip of flexible material formed with a longitudinalseries oftransverse slots adapted respectivelyto. receive saidportions tomaintain saidhooks inpredetermined relation on said holder, and beinglongitudinally bent to project inwardly into the associated cardingholder substantially to form a trough adapted to receive thereinthelapexes of the bent hook portions of a nested holder and hookassembly.

ALBRIGHT BRAY.

